Are You Okay? // Colby Brock

Sicker Than A Bowl Of Oatmeal

Sam shuffles backwards when Colby sits up, leaning against the wall. Silently, Sam exits the bedroom and starts pacing in his room, unsure of how to proceed. Colby's mostly inconsolable when he's sick, he doesn't like, in his words, "bothering" people when he's sick. And he's always adamant that he's fine and can take care of himself, even when he can't. 

Sam should talk to the roommates about it all.

Sneaking downstairs, Sam goes straight to the living room and, fortunately, Corey, Aaron and Elton are sitting on the couch playing Rocket League. Perfect.

"Yo, guys," Sam says, entering the room whilst nervously rubbing his hands together. "We need to talk about something."

Corey pauses the game and they all look up at Sam. "Shoot, sure. What's up, brother?"

Sam hesitates, clearly nervous and hesitant. Somehow, the rest of the roommates can tell this isn't a joke, it's not a prank. Whatever it is. Sam is serious and quite frankly, upset about something. But what...?

"Colby's sick," Sam finally manages, taking a deep breath. "Just like every other time he comes down with something, he's refusing to admit he needs help. I just saw him puke and he looks real bad. We gotta do something."

"Whoa, are you for real?" Corey asks, eyes wide. "What do you want us to do? Take him to the hospital or-or something?"

Sam hesitates. "I don't know, I just know without help he's gonna get real bad-worse than he is now. We gotta talk to him or something."

"Sam, bro, you know talking to him never works," Elton admits, calmly. "Colby never lets us help him when he's sick. Talking isn't gonna help."

"Then what should we do?" Sam asks helplessly. 

Elton shrugs. "I dunno. Just keep an eye on him. If he gets worse, we'll intervene and like Corey said, take him to the hospital. Maybe then he'll realize he needs to let us help him."

Nervous, Sam nods. "Yeah, yeah sure. That sounds good. Okay, thanks."

Corey, Elton and Aaron all smile and reassure Sam that everything will be okay, and feeling consoled, Sam backtracks to Colby's bedroom to check on his friend. He expects Colby to be in bed, coughing or something but when he pushes the door open, the bedroom is empty. In a sudden panic that Colby's hurt or something, Sam rushes to the bathroom and sighs in relief to see Colby in the same position as before, only now, he's unconscious. 

That alone scares the crap out of Sam, who approaches Colby and checks for a pulse. He's still alive but his chest is barely moving and his head is flopped down on said chest. He's sweating so much and he's both green and white, yet also red at the same time. He looks so bad, so much worse than ten minutes ago, if at all possible.

Rushing back down to the living room, Sam gets the attention of his roommates again. "Guys! Colby's passed out in his bathroom and he looks real bad. He's sweating and like, he looks green. He's barely breathing, we need to get him to his bed or something, to check on him. He-he looks bad."

Without a word, Corey, Elton and Aaron all get up and follow as Sam rushingly leads them to Colby's bedroom. He pushes the door open and doesn't even try to be discreet as he gestures to Colby shirtless and passed out in the bathroom. 

Aaron actually gasps when he sees Colby and Corey's eyes widen in fear, Elton's face unreadable yet worried. "Oh my God, he looks dead," Aaron whispers, backing up with Sam as Corey and Elton approach Colby.

They bend down next to him and Elton surveys him cautiously. Pushing his head up, Colby lets out a choked inhale, still unconscious. Elton gestures for Corey to grab his legs as he grabs Colby from his armpits, hoisting the boy up. Corey grabs his legs and they carefully move Colby over to his bed, where Aaron and Sam help him get comfortable.

"He's out cold," Corey remarks. "He really doesn't look good."

"Yeah, no shit," Sam snaps. He seems to realize what he just said and swallows. "Sorry, bro. I'm just on edge."

"We all are, dude," Corey reminds him. "No worries though."

Elton surveys Colby, checking his face and body for any signs of a physical infection. "He probably has a bad fever or maybe even... food poisoning? I'm no doctor but I'm pretty sure he got something from whatever he ate last night. We just need to let him sleep now and talk to him when he wakes up."

Nodding, the four roommates all agree that that's the safest plan of action and they all slip out of Colby's room, prepared to do what they can to help once he wakes up.

Later...

Waking up is different today. Instead of waking up naturally or waking up to some white noise, Colby wakes up choking. Yup, you read that right. Choking.

Colby's eyes snap open when he realizes there's something blocking his airway. His throat is burning and he's making loud choking sounds, wheezing as he tries to get in air. He's shaking in fear, body sore and face screwed up in fear as he pounds his fist against the wall, trying to get someone's attention subconsciously. His eyes are almost bugging out of his face as it goes purple, the lack of oxygen threatening his consciousness. 

He's barely aware of his bedroom door flying open before he feels hands on his stomach, pressing down harshly. It takes a second before the mucus in his throat clogging his airways comes out in a glob, Colby whining at how gross it is.

Leaning over, Colby sucks in a deep breath, his throat on fire as he attempts to catch his breath, his face sweating moreso from fear than from his sickness. Only then does he realize he's in his bed, his thin blanket haphazardly strewn across himself, the exact opposite to where he passed out; in the bathroom against the wall. 

"Colby? Yo, yo, yo," Sam leans down and rubs Colby's back in a soothing gesture, eyes wide. "You okay, bro? What happened?"

Colby groans and swallows harshly, the taste in his mouth unsatisfactory. "Wh-why am I in bed?" He croaks out first, dazed and disoriented.

"You passed out in the bathroom, bro, you remember?"

"Yeah..." Colby breathes out. "But how did I get here?"

"Oh. Corey and Elton brought you over when I found you passed out next a toilet full of your vomit." Colby winces at that. "Are you ready to admit you're not okay? We're just trying to help, dude. There's no reason for you to 'tough it out' when you just slept for like, twelve hours after passing out in the bathroom. We just wanna help, bro."

Colby sighs, flopping back onto his back. "Okay," He mutters softly. "You win. Take me to the hospital, Sammy. Please."